Image processing apparatus

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus using an enhancer for enhancing predetermined frequency components of an image signal, particularly high frequency components, to improve the quality of the image.

2. Description of the Related Art

In a display for displaying an image in accordance with an input image signal, so-called “enhancement” for enhancing the high frequency components of the image signal (hereinafter referred to as the “high band components”) is effective for improving the sharpness of the image. A circuit that enhances the high band components of a signal in this way is generally referred to as an “enhancer”. In a display or another image display device, enhancement of the image signal before display improves the sharpness of the image and enables realization of a crisp image quality.

Ordinarily an enhancer is realized by a high-pass filter. By extracting high band components of the image signal with a high-pass filter and by adding the extracted high band components to the original image signal, an image signal enhanced in high band components is obtained.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 13</figref> shows an example of the configuration of a generally used enhancer. As illustrated, the enhancer is constituted by a high-pass filter <b>10</b>, a nonlinear processing circuit <b>20</b>, an adder circuit <b>30</b>, and a limiter <b>40</b>. The high-pass filter <b>10</b> is constituted by delay circuits <b>11</b> and <b>12</b> and an adder circuit <b>13</b>.

In the high-pass filter <b>10</b>, the delay circuits <b>11</b> and <b>12</b> delay the input signal S_inby one or two sampling periods (T_sor 2T_s) and output the delayed signals. The adder circuit <b>13</b>, which has three input terminals (taps) T<b>1</b>, T<b>2</b>, and T<b>3</b>, adds the input signals from the taps weighted by predetermined coefficients. By controlling the coefficients of the adder circuit <b>13</b>, it is possible to control the type and characteristic of the filter.

Here, if the input signal S_inis expressed as a function of time s(t), the input signals of the taps T<b>1</b>, T<b>2</b>, and T<b>3</b> can be expressed as s(t), s(t−ΔT), and s(t−2ΔT), respectively. Note that here, ΔT=T_sor ΔT=2T_s. If the coefficients of the adder circuit <b>13</b> are w₁, w₂, and w₃, the output signal s_o(t) of the adder circuit <b>13</b> will be given as follows: <br /><i>s</i>_o(<i>t</i>)=<i>w</i>₁<i>s</i>(<i>t</i>)+<i>w</i>₂<i>s</i>(<i>t−ΔT</i>)+<i>w</i>₃<i>s</i>(<i>t−</i>2<i>ΔT</i>)  (1)

The nonlinear processing circuit <b>20</b> performs nonlinear processing on the output signal s_o(t) of the adder circuit <b>13</b>, then outputs the result of processing to the adder circuit <b>30</b>.

The adder circuit <b>30</b> adds the output signal S₂of the delay circuit <b>11</b> and the output signal of the nonlinear processing circuit <b>20</b>, then output the result of addition to the limiter <b>40</b>.

The limiter <b>40</b> limits the amplitude level of the input signal to below a predetermined threshold value.

By appropriately setting the coefficients w₁, w₂, and w₃of the adder circuit <b>13</b>, high-pass filtering of the input signal s(t) can be achieved. Therefore, the circuit shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 13</figref> operates as an enhancer.

An example of the coefficients for realizing the characteristic of the high-pass filter is, for example, −¼, ½, −¼. That is, in the adder circuit <b>13</b>, the coefficients provided to the taps are as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref>. The characteristic of the high-pass filter obtained by these coefficients is shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 15</figref>.

Further, when the delay time of the delay circuits <b>11</b> and <b>12</b> is 2T_s, the coefficients in the case of one sampling correspond to −¼, 0, ½, 0, −¼. The characteristic of the high-pass filter obtained by these coefficients is shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 16</figref>.

Note that in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 15 and 16</figref>, the abscissa represents the frequency, while the ordinate represents the gain of the filter. On the abscissa, the frequency is plotted in units of the sampling frequency f_s. As illustrated, the maximum frequency is 0.5 f_s, that is, the maximum frequency determined by the sampling theorem.

By using a high-pass filter having the frequency characteristic shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 15 and 16</figref>, an enhancer that enhances the high band components of the input signal S_incan be realized.

However, in the enhancers of the above related art, the frequency band being enhanced is only part of the effective frequency band of the input signal.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 17</figref> is a graph showing the frequency components of for example a high definition signal HD having a high resolution. Since the sampling frequency f_sof the HD signal is 74.25 MHz, as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 17</figref>, frequency components ranging up to 37.125 MHz are able to be plotted. However, the HD signal itself has almost no frequency components higher than 30 MHz, so the enhancement effect of the enhancer using the filter coefficients −¼, ½, −¼ is limited.

On the other hand, when using the filter coefficients −¼, 0, ½, 0, −¼, the frequency components in the intermediate frequency band are enhanced, while the enhancement effect for the high band components, for example, the frequency components close to 30 MHz, is poor. Furthermore, when using the coefficients described above, there is a drawback that ringing at the edge occurs in the signal passed through the high-pass filter.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 18 and 19</figref> show sampling values of the input signal, the filter coefficients, and the output signal of the enhancer. <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 18</figref> shows a case of using −¼, ½, −¼ as the filter coefficients, while <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 19</figref> shows a case of using −¼, 0, ½, 0, −¼ as the filter coefficients.

As illustrated, ringing occurs in the output signal in the case of using −¼, 0, ½, 0, −¼ as the filter coefficients.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus for expanding the frequency band of enhancement to improve the effect of improvement of the image quality and achieving two-dimensional enhancement for an image signal by a simple circuit configuration.

To obtain the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising a vertical filter for extracting predetermined frequency components from an image signal in a vertical direction, a first horizontal filter for extracting first frequency components from the output signal of the vertical filter in a horizontal direction of the image signal, a second horizontal filter for extracting second frequency components from the output signal of the vertical filter in the horizontal direction of the image signal, selecting means for selectively outputting the output signal of the first horizontal filter, and adding means for adding the output signal of the selecting means and the output signal of the second horizontal filter.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising a first vertical filter for extracting high frequency components from an image signal in a vertical direction, a second vertical filter for extracting low frequency components from the image signal in the vertical direction, a first horizontal filter for extracting high frequency components from the output signal of the first vertical filter in a horizontal direction of the image signal, a second horizontal filter for extracting low frequency components form the output signal of the first vertical filter in the horizontal direction of the image signal, a third horizontal filter for extracting high frequency components from the output signal of the second vertical filter in the horizontal direction of the image signal, first selecting means for selectively outputting the output signal of the first horizontal filter, first adding means for adding the output signal of the second horizontal filter and the output signal of the first selecting means, second selecting means for selectively outputting the output signal of the first horizontal filter, second adding means for adding the output signal of the second selecting means to the output signal of the third horizontal filter, a delay circuit for delaying the image signal by exactly a predetermined delay time, and third adding means for adding the output signals of the first and the second adding means to the output signal of the delay circuit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following explanation of the preferred embodiments given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a circuit diagram of an image processing apparatus of a first embodiment according to the present invention;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a circuit diagram of an example of the configuration of a vertical high-pass filter with a line memory;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a circuit diagram of an example of the configuration of a horizontal high-pass filter;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> is a view of an example of the coefficients of the horizontal high-pass filter;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> is a view of an example of the frequency characteristic of the horizontal high-pass filter;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> is a view of the change of the filter characteristic when the coefficients thereof have been changed;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> is a view of the frequency components of an image signal;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> is a view of the input-output characteristic of a nonlinear circuit;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> is a view of the regions of vertical high band and horizontal high band signal components;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref> is a view of enhancement modes;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 11A to 11C</figref> are views of the enhancement in an interlaced scan;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12A to 12C</figref> are views of the enhancement in a progressive scann;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 13</figref> is circuit diagram of an example of the configuration of an enhancer of the related art;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref> is view of an example of the coefficients of a high-pass filter forming the enhancer;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 15</figref> is a view of an example of the frequency characteristic of a high-pass filter of the related art;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 16</figref> is a view of another example of the frequency characteristic of a high-pass filter of the related art;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 17</figref> is a view of an example of the frequency components of a HD image signal;

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 18</figref> is a view of an example of sampling values of the input signal, filter coefficients, and output signal of the enhancer; and

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 19</figref> is a view of another example of sampling values of the input signal, filter coefficients, and output signal of the enhancer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below while referring to the attached figures.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a circuit diagram of an image processing apparatus using an enhancer according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment is constituted by a vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b>, a horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, a horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b>, a switch <b>130</b>, an adder circuit <b>140</b>, a nonlinear circuit <b>150</b>, a vertical low-pass filter <b>160</b>, a horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b>, a switch <b>180</b>, an adder circuit <b>190</b>, a nonlinear circuits <b>200</b>, <b>210</b>, a switch <b>220</b>, a delay matching circuit <b>230</b>, a comparator <b>240</b>, an adder circuit <b>250</b>, and a limiter <b>260</b>.

Next, the components of the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be explained. The vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b> and the vertical low-pass filter <b>160</b> output high frequency components(vertical high band) S_HHand low frequency components (vertical low band) S_HLin the vertical direction with respect to the input image signal S_in.

Note that if the image signal S_inis input a line at a time as sampling data in the horizontal direction, the following conversion circuit for converting horizontal direction sampling data to vertical direction sampling data will be necessary for vertical filtering.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> shows an example of a vertical filter containing a horizontal-vertical conversion circuit which outputs vertical direction sampling data from input horizontal direction sampling data.

As illustrated, the vertical filter is comprised by a horizontal-vertical conversion circuit and an adder circuit. The horizontal-vertical conversion circuit is comprised by line memories <b>101</b> and <b>102</b>. The line memories <b>101</b> and <b>102</b> are, for example, comprised by shift registers, first-in-first-out (FIFO) circuits, and so on and have data storage capacities for storing one line of the image signal worth of data. In addition, the line memories <b>101</b> and <b>102</b> shift the input data to the output side at each period of a sampling clock CK_scorresponding to the sampling clock CK_ssupplied from the outside.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, if the input data is D<b>1</b>, the output data of the line memory <b>101</b> is D<b>2</b>, and the output data of the line memory <b>102</b> is D<b>3</b>, D<b>1</b>, D<b>2</b>, and D<b>3</b> are output as three sampling data adjacent in the vertical direction.

As illustrated, the sampling data D<b>1</b>, D<b>2</b>, and D<b>3</b> are supplied to an adder circuit <b>103</b>. The adder circuit <b>103</b> has three input taps T<b>1</b>, T<b>2</b>, and T<b>3</b>. The sampled data D<b>1</b>, D<b>2</b>, and D<b>3</b> are input to the taps, respectively. The adder circuit <b>103</b> performs filtering by adding the three input data weighted with predetermined coefficients. By appropriately setting the coefficients, a filter having different band pass characteristics such as one of a high-pass filter or low-pass filter can be realized.

Here, as an example, the adder circuit <b>103</b> is assumed to perform high-pass filtering in the vertical direction using the coefficients shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 14</figref>. In this case, the frequency character of the filter becomes that shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 15</figref>. As illustrated, the cut-off frequency f_cof the high-pass filter is about f_s/4.

By changing the coefficients of the adder circuit <b>103</b>, the frequency characteristic of the vertical filter changes and therefore a vertical high-pass filter and vertical low-pass filter can be realized.

Note that the vertical filter described above is achieved by the two line memories and the adder circuit having three taps. In the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the configuration of the vertical filter is not limited by this. For example, by performing weighted addition in an adder circuit having more taps, a vertical high-pass filter having lower cut-off frequency f_ccan be achieved. In this case, however, because of the necessary for the increase of the number of the line memories, the scale of the circuit becomes larger. Accordingly, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the number of the taps in the adder circuit of the vertical filter is set smaller than that in the adder circuit of the horizontal filter.

Next, the horizontal filters of the image processing apparatus of the present invention will be explained. As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the horizontal filters include the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b>, and the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b>.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the output signal S_HHof the vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b> is supplied to the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> and the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b>, while the output signal S_HLof the vertical low-pass filter <b>160</b> is supplied to the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b>.

The horizontal high-pass filters <b>110</b> and <b>170</b> extract the high band components of the input signal S_in, while the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b> extracts the low band components of the input signal S_in.

Below, an example of the configuration of the horizontal high-pass filter will be explained while referring to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>, the horizontal high-pass filter is comprised of a cascade-connected plurality of delay circuits <b>112</b>-<b>1</b>, <b>112</b>-<b>2</b>, . . . , <b>112</b>-<b>10</b> and adder circuit <b>113</b>. Each delay circuit delays the input signal by one sampling period and outputs a delayed signal. As illustrated, the adder circuit <b>113</b> has, for example, 11 input taps T<b>1</b>, T<b>2</b>, . . . , T<b>11</b> and adds the input data from the input taps weighted by predetermined coefficients. By appropriately setting the coefficients, a filter having the desired band pass characteristic can be realized.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> shows an example of the coefficients. The high-pass characteristic shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> can be achieved by using these coefficients.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref>, the high-pass filter of the example has a low cut-off frequency f_cof about f_s/8 and thus has a wide pass band.

In this way, in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, since the cut-off frequency f_cof the horizontal high-pass filter is set lower, the enhanced band, that is, the band wherein the gain becomes near 1.0, is expanded, the components from the high frequency to low frequency are enhanced, and the enhancement effect is improved. Further, since the signal is enhanced from the low frequency band, the effect of improvement of the contrast of the image is achieved as well.

Additionally, in the present embodiment, when designing a horizontal filter, by setting the rolloff rate larger to be close to 1.0, the coefficients of the taps besides the center tap will not become positive, thus the occurrence of ringing can be avoided. This is because when the rolloff rate is set smaller, the coefficients of the taps besides the center tap become mixed ones of positive and negative values and become larger in values, so the ringing becomes remarkable.

Further, by changing the coefficients shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref>, a horizontal filter having different frequency characteristics can be realized.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> shows the change of the frequency characteristic of a horizontal high-pass filter due to the change of the coefficients thereof. As illustrated, in the horizontal filter, changing the coefficients changes the gradient of the transient band from the cut-off band to the pass band in the horizontal high-pass filter, so different enhancement effects can be realized.

In the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, for example, by preparing a plurality of coefficients in advance corresponding to characteristics of image display devices and switching the coefficients in accordance with the display device, the desired enhancement effect can be realized.

In the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b>, for example can have the same frequency characteristic as the above described horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>. On the other hand, the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b>, reverse to the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, has a characteristic of passing the low frequency components and cutting off the high frequency components.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> shows conceptually the frequency components of the output signals of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b>, and the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b> in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment. In <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>, the abscissa shows the horizontal direction frequency components (hereinafter referred to as the “horizontal frequency”), while the ordinate shows the vertical direction frequency components (hereinafter referred to as the “vertical frequency”). Regions A show the low band components in the vertical direction and high band components in the horizontal direction, regions B show low band components in the horizontal direction and high band components in the vertical direction, and further regions C show high band components in both the horizontal direction and vertical direction.

In the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> is the output signal S_HHof the vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b> processed by a high-pass filter in the horizontal direction, that is, a signal having frequency components of regions C shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>. The output signal of the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b> is the output signal S_HHof the vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b> processed by a low-pass filter in horizontal direction, that is, a signal having frequency components of regions B shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>. On the other hand, the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b> is the output signal S_HHof the vertical low-pass filter <b>160</b> processed by a high-pass filter in the horizontal direction, that is, a signal having frequency components of regions A shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>.

The image processing apparatus of the present embodiment uses the vertical and horizontal filters to enhance the input signal S_inin the horizontal direction and the vertical direction and thereby realizes two-dimensional enhancement of the image signal. Then, by selectively fetching the enhanced frequency components, only a signal of the predetermined frequency bands can be enhanced and the desired enhancement effect can be achieved.

For example, in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, by combining the frequency components of the three regions A, B, and C described above in predetermined modes, it is possible to realize two-dimensional filtering of an image signal by one-dimensional filters.

Below, the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be explained. As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the image processing apparatus is provided with switches <b>130</b>, <b>180</b>, and <b>220</b> for selecting frequency components and adder circuits <b>140</b>, <b>190</b>, and <b>250</b> for adding frequency components selected by these switches.

The switch <b>130</b> selects the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> (having the frequency components of the regions C shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>) according to a control signal S_c1and outputs the selected signal to the adder circuit <b>140</b>. For example, when the control signal S_c1is “1”, the switch <b>130</b> outputs the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> to the adder circuit <b>140</b>, while when the control signal S_c1is “0”, the switch <b>130</b> does not select the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>.

Similarly the switch <b>180</b> selects the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> according to a control signal S_c2and outputs the selected signal to the adder circuit <b>190</b>. For example, when the control signal S_c2is “1”, the switch <b>130</b> outputs the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> to the adder circuit <b>190</b>, while when the control signal S_c2is “0”, the switch <b>180</b> does not select the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>.

The adder circuit <b>140</b> adds the output signal of the horizontal low-pass filter <b>120</b> (having the frequency components of the regions B shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>) and the signal selected by the switch <b>130</b> and outputs the addition result to the nonlinear circuit <b>150</b>. Accordingly, when the control signal S_c1is “1”, the adder circuit <b>140</b> outputs a signal having the frequency components of the regions (B+C). Conversely, when the control signal S_c1is “0”, the adder circuit <b>140</b> outputs a signal having only the frequency components of the regions B.

Similarly, the adder circuit <b>190</b> adds the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>170</b> and the signal selected by the switch <b>180</b> and outputs the addition result to the nonlinear circuit <b>200</b>. Accordingly, when the control signal S_c2is “1”, the adder circuit <b>190</b> outputs a signal having the frequency components of regions (A+C). Conversely, when the control signal S_c2is “0”, the adder circuit <b>190</b> outputs only the signal having frequency components of the regions A.

The nonlinear circuit <b>150</b> performs nonlinear processing on the output signal of the adder circuit <b>140</b> and outputs the processing result to the adder circuit <b>250</b>. The nonlinear circuit <b>200</b> performs nonlinear processing on the output signal of the adder circuit <b>190</b> and outputs the processing result to the adder circuit <b>250</b>. The nonlinear processings in the nonlinear circuits <b>150</b> and <b>200</b> include processing of, for example, adjusting the coring amount, clipping value, enhancing amount, limiting value, and so on of the input signal.

Further, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> is input to the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>. The output signal nonlinearly processed there is selected by the switch <b>220</b> and is output to the adder circuit <b>250</b>.

The nonlinear circuit <b>210</b> has the same functions such as the nonlinear circuits <b>150</b> and <b>200</b>. Thus, the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b> adjusts the coring amount, clipping value, enhancing amount, limiting value, and so on of the input signal.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> shows an example of the input-output characteristic of the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>. (Note that, for the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>, the input-output characteristic of the negative side is “0”, The nonlinear circuits <b>150</b> and <b>200</b> have the same functions as that of the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>, but the input-output characteristics of the negative sides are symmetrical with respect to the origin O.) As illustrated, two characteristics (Characteristic 1 and Characteristic 2) are shown here. According to Characteristic <b>1</b>, when the level of the input signal is lower than a predetermined threshold value S_th1, the level of the output signal is determined by a predetermined gradient according to the level of the input signal. When the level of the input signal is higher than the predetermined threshold value S_th1, the level of the output signal is clipped by a predetermined clipping value (upper limiting value).

On the other hand, according to Characteristic <b>2</b>, when the level of input signal is higher than a predetermined threshold value S_th2, the level of the output level is reduced by a predetermined negative gradient, while when the level of the input signal is higher than a predetermined limit value S_LT, the level of the output signal is kept at “0”.

Additionally, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref>, in the case of either Characteristic <b>1</b> or Characteristic <b>2</b>, when the level of the input signal is lower than the coring value, the output signal is kept at “0”.

The switch <b>220</b> selects the output of the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b> according to the output signal of the comparator <b>240</b>, then outputs the same to the adder circuit <b>250</b>. For example, when the output signal of the comparator <b>240</b> is “1”, the switch <b>220</b> selects the output signal of the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b> and outputs it to the adder circuit <b>250</b>. However, when the output signal of the comparator <b>240</b> is “0”, the switch <b>220</b> does not select the output signal of the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>.

The comparator <b>240</b> compares the output signal S_DLof the delay matching circuit <b>230</b> with a predetermined threshold value S_th. When the output signal S_DLis larger than the predetermined threshold value S_th, it outputs “1”, while when the output signal S_DLis smaller than the predetermined threshold value S_th, it outputs “0”.

The delay matching circuit <b>230</b> outputs the delay signal S_DLobtained by delaying the input signal S_inby a predetermined delay time. Note that the delay time Δt of the delay matching circuit <b>230</b> is set in accordance with the processing time of the filter circuits of the vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b>, the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, and so on. The signal delay of the line memory is contained in the processing time of the vertical high-pass filter <b>100</b>.

According to the comparator <b>240</b>, the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>, and the switch <b>220</b>, when the output signal S_DLof the delay matching circuit <b>230</b> is larger than the predetermined threshold value S_th, the nonlinear processing result of the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, that is, the signal containing the frequency components of the regions C, is selected, then output to the adder circuit <b>250</b>. Conversely, when the output signal S_DLof the delay matching circuit <b>230</b> is smaller than the predetermined threshold value S_th, the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b> is not selected.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> shows the signal regions selected by the switch <b>220</b>. In <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref>, the vertical high band and horizontal high band signals, that is, the frequency components of the regions C shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>, are contained in the regions K.

In this way, the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment performs enhancement in the slanted direction of the screen by adding the vertical high band and horizontal high band signal components, that is, the signals of the regions K shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref>, to signals that exceed a predetermined threshold level. Accordingly, since the enhancement is performed in the slanted direction of the screen for a white signal having a high luminance level, the crispness of the displayed image can be restored.

Next, the enhancement modes able to be achieved by the selection of the switches <b>130</b> and <b>180</b> will be explained with reference to <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref>.

In <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref>, four enhancement modes are illustrated. In addition, the states of the control signals S_c1and S_c2corresponding to each mode are illustrated.

As shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref>, when both of the control signals S_c1and S_c2are “0”, the enhancement of mode M<b>1</b> is performed. In this state, the switches <b>130</b> and <b>180</b> do not select the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>. Accordingly, the frequency components of the regions A shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>, that is, the vertical low band and horizontal high band signal components, are included in the X regions of the mode M<b>1</b>, while the frequency components of the regions B shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>, that is, the horizontal high band and horizontal low band signal components, are included in the Y regions.

Next, when the control signal S_c1is “0” and the control signal S_c2is “1”, the enhancement of mode M<b>2</b> is performed. In this state, the switch <b>130</b> dose not select the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, but the switch <b>180</b> does. Accordingly, the frequency components of the regions (A+C) are included in the X regions of the mode M<b>2</b>, and the frequency components of the regions B are included in the Y regions.

Next, when the control signal S_c1is “1” and the control signal S_c2is “0”, the enhancement of mode M<b>3</b> is performed. In this state, the switch <b>130</b> selects the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>, but the switch <b>180</b> does not. Accordingly, the frequency components of the regions A are included in the X regions of the mode M<b>3</b>, and the frequency components of the regions (B+C) are included in the Y regions.

Finally, when both of the control signals S_c1and S_c2are “1”, the enhancement of mode M<b>4</b> is performed. In this case, both of the switches <b>130</b> and <b>180</b> select the output signal of the horizontal high-pass filter <b>110</b>. Accordingly, the frequency components of the regions (A+C) are included in the X regions of the mode M<b>4</b>, and the frequency components of the regions (B+C) are included in the Y regions. That is, in the mode M<b>4</b>, portions of the X regions and the Y regions overlap, so double enhancement is performed on the frequency components.

As described above, in the mode M<b>1</b>, since the vertical high band and horizontal high band frequency components of the regions C are not selected, the enhancement effect in the slanted direction of the image is lower. On the other hand, in the mode M<b>4</b>, since the frequency components of the regions C are doubly enhanced, the balance with the other frequency components becomes poor. As a result, in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, by suitably selecting the mode M<b>1</b>, M<b>2</b>, and M<b>3</b> and further selecting and adding the vertical high band and horizontal high band frequency components of the regions C in accordance with the input luminance level, the predetermined enhancement effect is able to be achieved.

Below, the selection of the enhancement modes in accordance with image signal will be explained.

The selection of the enhancement modes differs, for example, according to the difference of the scan lines of the image signal. When the image signal is displayed on a display device, if the signal becomes blunt in the vertical direction, the deterioration of the image quality becomes more obvious. Accordingly, if enhancing slanted direction frequency components in the vertical direction by the mode M<b>3</b>, the effect of improvement of the image quality appears remarkably.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 11A to 11C</figref> and <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12A to 12C</figref> are views of the enhancement in the vertical direction and in the horizontal direction in the case of an interlaced scan and progressive scan, respectively.

As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 11A</figref>, in the case of an interlaced scan, odd-numbered lines and even-numbered lines are scanned separately, whereby an odd-numbered field (namely, the first field shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 17</figref>) and an even-numbered field (namely, the second field shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 17</figref>) are displayed. Because the scan lines of the first field and the second field are offset by one line each on the screen, an image of one frame is formed by combining these fields.

On the other hand, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 12A</figref>, in the case of a progressive scan, all of the lines are scanned in turn. That is, an image of one frame is formed by one scan.

In the case of an interlaced scan as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 11A to 11C</figref>, if enhancing slanted direction components in the vertical direction, since the enhancement is performed separately in the odd-numbered field and the even-numbered field, a plurality of pixels sampled every other line in the vertical direction of the image is filtered. Accordingly, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 11B</figref>, ringing end up spreading as a result of the enhancement.

On the other hand, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 12A–12C</figref>, in the case of a progressive scan, lines of the image signal of one frame are input continuously without distinction as to the odd-numbered field and the even-numbered field. Therefore, as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 12B</figref>, in the enhancement in the vertical direction, since the filtering is performed for a plurality of pixels continuing in the vertical direction on the screen, ringing does not spread after the enhancement such as in an interlaced scan.

Note that, in the case of an interlaced scan as shown in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 11C</figref>, since the image signal is input continuously in the horizontal direction without distinction to the odd-numbered field and the even-numbered field, the horizontal direction enhancement can give the same effect as the case of a progressive scan.

As described above, in comparison with the case of a progressive scan, in the case of an interlaced scan, the waveform of enhancement occurs at positions away from the pixels in question and ringing spreads. Here, in the case of an interlaced scan, the mode M<b>2</b> for enhancing the slanted direction frequency components in the horizontal direction is selected, while in the case of a progressive scan, the mode M<b>3</b> for enhancing the slanted direction frequency components in the vertical direction is selected. Accordingly, the enhancement can be achieved with the most suitable enhancement mode for each different scan method, and the effect of improvement of image quality can be further increased.

Further, when the signal band becomes narrower for some reason, the waveform of the image signal becomes blunt and a high luminance signal near the white peak, for example, the image of a necklace, loses its crispness. In such a case, as described above, the nonlinear circuit <b>210</b>, the switch <b>220</b>, and the comparator <b>240</b> enhance a signal beyond a certain threshold level to the positive side. Accordingly, since the enhanced part is limited to the white signal desired to be enhanced more in comparison with other parts and a signal of another level is not enhanced, double enhancement and over-enhancement of the frequency bands in the slanted directions can be prevented. By processing in this way, only the white signal is further enhanced the crispness of the image can be restored without a feeling of incongruity.

As explained above, according to the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, by providing vertical high-pass filters and horizontal high-pass filters as enhancers and appropriately selecting the vertical and horizontal frequency components by switches, a signal of desired frequency bands can be enhanced. Additionally, according to the present embodiment, two-dimensional filtering can be achieved by using one-dimensional filters for the vertical and horizontal directions. Furthermore, an improved effect of enhancement can be obtained by choosing the most suitable enhancement mode in accordance with the configuration of the scan lines of the image signal.

Additionally, in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, by enhancing a signal exceeding a certain level in the vertical high band and the horizontal high band, the crispness of the image can be restored without a feeling of incongruity.

Summarizing the effects of the invention, as described above, according to the present invention, by setting the cut-off frequency of the horizontal high-pass filter used as an enhancer lower, it is possible to expand the pass band in the horizontal direction, improve the enhancement effect, and further improve the contrast of the image.

Additionally, according to the present invention, by combining the filtering in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, two-dimensional filtering can be easily realized by one-dimensional filters and a better effect of enhancement can be achieved with a simple circuit configuration.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, by enhancing the high frequency components in both of the vertical and horizontal directions for a signal exceeding a predetermined level, the crispness of the image quality can be restored without a feeling of incongruity.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments chosen for purpose of illustration, it should be apparent that numerous modifications could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the basic concept and scope of the invention.